Auburn at No. 22 Georgia

WHERE: Foley Field

WHEN: Thursday 7 p.m., Friday 7 p.m.,. Saturday noon

RECORDS: Georgia 26-14, 9-9; Auburn 17-20, 3-15

STARING PITCHERS: Friday - Ryan Webb (2-3, 3.42) vs Jack Owen (1-2, 6.04); Saturday - Jonathan Cannon (2-2, 4.25) vs Richard Fitts (0-3, 7.82)

TV/RADIO: SEC Network (Thursday, Dave Neal and Kyle Peterson; Saturday, Dave Neal and Todd Walker); SECNetwork+ (Friday); Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Jeff Dantzler and David Johnson).

With four weeks to go in the regular season, the final chapter to Georgia’s 2021 baseball season is a long way from being written.

Although the Bulldogs have certainly seen their share of ups and downs, Georgia enters its series with Auburn in a place Scott Stricklin’s squad has been striving to get to all year: .500 in the SEC.

With a final stretch that includes the Tigers, No. 1 Arkansas, Florida, and Ole Miss before the upcoming SEC Tournament, the Bulldogs (26-14, 9-9) are situated nicely as far as another trip to post-season play. However, the Bulldogs recognize the importance of staying .500 in conference play, and what that means for the rest of the year.

“If you’re .500 in the league, you’re a Top 25 team, probably a Top 15 team in the country,” Stricklin said Wednesday. “When we start, we don’t say, oh, let’s go 500. Our goal is to win every series, but realistically, we know that (the importance of finishing .500), although our schedule is certainly very tough.”

If there’s anything Stricklin has learned about his 2021 squad, it would don’t count them out. After starting the year 3-6 heading into a series at then-No. 1 Vanderbilt, finally getting to 9-9 in the conference stands as an impressive feat.

“I guess I’ll call them gritty,” said Stricklin, when asked to offer one word to describe his team. “We could have quit early. We were 3-6; the Georgia Southern loss was a really tough one. We didn’t play well, had four hits, were going to Vanderbilt, and we could have just given up. But we didn’t. We fought. We played with a lot of heart and grit.”

Bulldog first baseman Chaney Rogers and pitcher Jonathan Cannon gave similar responses when asked to give their thoughts.

“I’d just go with competitive,” Cannon said. “Early in the year, we battled a lot of injuries and guys being out, but we found ways to win.”

For Rogers, another word comes to mind.

“For me, it would be toughness,” he said. “We’ve come back in a lot of games this year. Toughness is something we’ve been preaching all spring long.”

Thursday night, the journey continues.

Although the Bulldogs have yet to pull off a series sweep, Georgia has won three straight SEC series.

If the season were to end today, the Bulldogs would be right in the middle of the SEC standings and assured of a trip back to the NCAAs.

Considering that before the season started, few pundits picked Georgia to make the field of 64, that’s a comfortable place to be. Still, the remaining portion of the schedule is daunting.

The Tigers (17-20, 3-15) sit last in the SEC West, but it should be noted that injuries have played a huge role. Also, of Auburn’s 18 conference games, 15 have been decided by two runs or less. The Tigers are 3-12 in those contests.

“Auburn is as good a 3-15 team as I’ve ever seen,” Stricklin said. “It’s a really good offensive team, and they’ve just been snakebit a little bit. It’s going to be a challenge, but it’s a series we need to win, because if we do, we’re over .500 (in the SEC) before we go into a really tough home stretch.”

To Stricklin’s point, Auburn is the No. 3 team in the SEC with a team batting average of .290. The Tigers are three spots ahead of the Bulldogs, who are batting a collective .277—seventh in the conference.

On the mound, Georgia boasts the league’s fifth-best ERA (3.69), while Auburn is 13th at 5.39.

“You look at our lineup 1-9: there are some tough outs in there, but no one who's getting a whole lot of pub. Connor Tate is starting to get some,” Stricklin said. “It’s the same with our pitching staff. Ryan Webb and Jonathan Cannon are as talented as anybody, but they don’t get a lot of headlines, and we’ve won four straight games with our bullpen day in the league. It just goes unnoticed. We’re just a bunch of no-named guys who grind it out.”

Stricklin said he’s not concerned with this week’s series starting on Thursday as it pertains to his pitching staff.

Webb will start Thursday’s 7 p.m. opener, followed by Cannon on Friday and Saturday's pitchers to be determined later.

“The last time we did it was for Vanderbilt, and we all know how that worked out, it worked out pretty good. But you just never know,” Stricklin said. “The starters are on one day’s shorter rest, so their bullpens are moved up another day. It’s just a little bit different.”

The bullpen is where the greatest effect may be seen.

With reliever Darryn Pasqua pitching Tuesday against Georgia Tech, the right-hander will be held back to Friday, or possibly Saturday afternoon.

“Jaden Woods didn’t throw (Tuesday night), Michael Polk didn’t throw, and Ben Harris didn’t throw last night, so our bullpen is pretty fresh,” Stricklin said. “Jack Gowen has got kind of a rubber arm. He’s thrown three of the last four games and has been really good for us. We’ll have to see how he feels. We feel Will Pearson will be back. He was down a couple of days with some soreness, but he’ll be back on the roster and ready to go.”

Although Stricklin said Monday that Josh McAllister’s recurring hamstring injury was not as bad as before, it appears the second baseman will remain doubtful for the series against the Tigers.

“(Tuesday) was not a good day for him mentally. He felt like he was going to wake up yesterday and feel a whole lot better, but he felt the same,” Stricklin said. “I haven't talked to him today. My guess is he’s a 'no' for tomorrow. After that, it’s day-to-day, but I’m learning more toward questionable or doubtful.”

Assuming he can’t go, Garrett Blaylock will slide over to second, with Parks Harber taking over at third.

“We’ve been careful with him, and we’ve really waited until he was closer to 100 percent to come back, and this last stretch he played for two weekends,” Stricklin said. “He felt great, then it went again on him. So, we’ll get a picture of it today; we’ll see what he’s dealing with and see if there’s anything else we need to think about, but a long answer to your question—I’ll say that he’s doubtful.”